PURPOSE:
Behavioral and social science (BSS) competencies are needed to provide quality health care, but psychometrically validated measures to assess these competencies are difficult to find. Moreover, they have not been mapped to existing frameworks, like those from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). This systematic review aimed to identify and evaluate the quality of assessment tools used to measure BSS competencies.

METHOD:
The authors searched the literature published between January 2002 and March 2014 for articles reporting psychometric or other validity/reliability testing, using OVID, CINAHL, PubMed, ERIC, Research and Development Resource Base, SOCIOFILE, and PsycINFO. They reviewed 5,104 potentially relevant titles and abstracts. To guide their review, they mapped BSS competencies to existing LCME and ACGME frameworks. The final included articles fell into three categories: instrument development, which were of the highest quality; educational research, which were of the second highest quality; and curriculum evaluation, which were of lower quality.

CONCLUSIONS:
These findings serve as a valuable resource for medical educators and researchers. More rigorous measurement validation and testing and more robust study designs are needed to understand how educational strategies contribute to BSS competency development.

AD

P.A. Carney is professor of family medicine and of public health and preventive medicine, Oregon Health&Science University School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon. R.T. Palmer is assistant professor of family medicine, Oregon Health&Science University School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon. M.F. Miller is senior research assistant, Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health&Science University School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon. E.K. Thayer is research assistant, Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health&Science University School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon. S.E. Estroff is professor, Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. D.K. Litzelman is D. Craig Brater Professor of Medicine and senior director for research in health professions education and practice, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. F.E. Biagioli is professor of family medicine, Oregon Health&Science Unive